NPR Shoots Itself in the Foot (Again)
03/09/2011
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I saw bit and pieces on news shows of this undercover video showing an NPR executive schmoozing for dollars with men identified as terrorist sympathizers, but watching the whole thing at once is quite a tour of liberal condescension. Attitudes range from the university ("liberal because it's intellectual") to the Tea Party ("racist, racist people").

We also learn that the "educated, so-called elite is too small a percentage of the population" in the opinion of the NPR suit, Ron Schiller. And that firing Juan Williams was something Schiller was "very proud of" because it demonstrated NPR's dedication to a "non-racist, non-bigoted, straightforward telling of the news."

He believed he was meeting with two generous members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were interested in donating $5 million to a news organization where their views would be expressed. Did Schiller think he was impressing the jihadists with his snooty liberal talk?

Schiller's clearly stated opinion that NPR would be better off without government money got a lot of attention in Congress and beyond, where many Republicans agreed with him at least on that point.

Michael Barone: Why NPR should urge Congress to end its subsidy, Washington Examiner, March 8, 2011

What do they put in the water cooler over at NPR? First, they fire Juan Williams in October for comments he made on Fox News Channel and Vivian Schiller, the CEO of public radio, smilingly suggests he needs to have his head examined.

This week a sting video shows NPR Foundation President Ron Schiller (no relation) saying that Tea Party activists were "seriously racist" and telling two purported Muslim program underwriters that there aren't enough "non-Zionist" news organizations.

Vivian Schiller was denied her 2010 bonus and Ron Schiller, an NPR spokesman says, is already on his way to a job elsewhere. But, with a new large Republican majority in the House of Representatives, NPR leaders could hardly have done a better job of persuading Congress to zero out public radio funding.

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